What I’ve Learned Three Months Into My Design Internship

I’m done with my design internship! It’s been a busy three months working with Tobias and the Semplice team, but I sure had a lot of fun. Reflecting on my time, I’m quite impressed with what I have accomplished and how much ground I was able to cover in three months.

This is a three-month series chronicling my internship with House of van Schneider. If you haven't already, catch up and read about my first and second months.

My overall design skills (layout, typography, color theory, etc.) have improved, I’m comfortable using a variety of design software and I have real-world experience working on a super cool product. I know I have a lot more to learn, but this internship taught me invaluable lessons for the design career ahead of me. Here are just a few.

Get to know your team.

We all know the importance of designers and developers working well together. But it’s also valuable for designers to develop a healthy working relationship with people outside of their immediate circle — like marketing managers, copywriters and sales associates.

Working with a fully remote team spread across several time zones meant it took extra effort to create and grow my work relationships. I only really needed to communicate with 1-2 other team members on a daily basis, but I’m glad I spent the time and effort getting to know everyone and their different roles. By doing this I was able to integrate with the team faster and become a more well-rounded designer. But most importantly, it made me more cognizant of the role my work plays in the overall operation of things.

For example, I worked closely with Lizzy (the editor of this blog) who writes the majority of the copy on the Semplice website. She recently told me how much she appreciates that I write my own copy when designing pages, instead of using Lorem Ipsum or placeholder copy. Writing my own copy helps to sort out the story of the page. It shows how everything should be lining up visually and makes it easier to know how much room to allocate for final copy. If I use Lorem Ipsum, I may be limiting the potential of the final product or worse, have to redesign it later.

Being aware of my role as a designer within a company is crucial. It helps eliminate unnecessary back and forth and increases productivity. Plus it’s just a considerate, thoughtful approach to have as an employee and peer.

"I can’t count the number of times I asked silly little questions like 'Why did you choose that color?' or 'How did you create that shadow?'"

It’s all about the process – at least for now.

To me, what makes someone a good designer isn’t how much formal training they have, what big-name clients they’ve worked with or how much money they make. A good designer is someone who has a solid design process that enables them to produce creative solutions to problems.

I’ve had the opportunity to interact with senior designers and developers during my internship, and one key thing I always try to do is understand the process behind their work by asking lots of “why” and “how” questions. There’s really no better way to get insight (and inspiration!) than by asking successful professionals in the industry. If I’m not proactively trying to pick their brains, I’m not making the most of my time.

Don’t shy away from the small questions either. I can’t count the number of times I asked silly little questions like “Why did you choose that color?” or “How did you create that shadow?” It only takes a few seconds or minutes out of their day to answer my question, but their answers might propel me forward a big step.

I’m just beginning my career and paying my dues to make sure I have a solid foundation to build on for the years to come. But once I become a more mature designer and have my own process down, I'll be able to break the rules and trust my intuition more. And while the process is important, I try not to obsess over it. Design is flexible. It’s not made up of only hard and fast rules. I don’t want all the tools and processes to become a distraction from actually doing the work.

Progress is progress.

As designers (or really, whatever your profession may be) we’re often our own harshest critic. This can be a great source of motivation, but when things go awry, it’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole of insecurity. There are many times I feel as though I won’t ever reach the level of the designers I look up to, but when I take a step back (or when I’m forced to), I can see that my skills really have grown.

I recently took a look at some work I created a few months back and compared it to my more recent work. There was only a difference of a few months, but I still noticed little improvements and that’s reason enough for celebration. Even though I’m still new to this whole thing, I’ve found it essential to take that step back from my daily hustle and celebrate the progress I’ve made. Progress is progress no matter how little or big, and I deserve to be proud of myself.

Have fun!

Every day, I try to be a better designer than I was the day before. I do my best to stay motivated and inspired. I ask questions, I work extra hours if needed and I always put my best foot forward. But I try not to take myself or my work too seriously 100% of the time, or it can become overwhelming.

I decided to pursue a career in design because I thought I’d be good at it, it seemed interesting and it looked like fun. I try not to forget that when I get stressed out over my work. Having a positive attitude and taking time to work on personal projects helps me keep my excitement level up and also acts as a little recharge for my creativity.

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I’m sad that the end of my internship is here, but I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned and the fantastic team I got to work alongside. I really hope that some of the lessons I’ve learned working here will be encouraging to other new designers out there. Keep at it, work hard and do what you can to stay inspired. I know I’ll be taking all these lessons along with me to my next position, wherever that may be. I just hope the next crew I work with is half as great as the team here. Work doesn’t really seem like work when you have good company.